Our Honor Defend

The Buckeyes had to endure an unwatchable first half of basketball, but were rewarded for it in the end.  On the heels of a hot hand from Diebler and Turner and a turnover-happy Hurricane offense, the Buckeyes rallied from a 14pt deficit to win in Coral Gables 73-68.  With it, the Buckeyes win their first road game over a ranked opponent since 2006.

Let us not lose sight of how unwatchable that first half was.  The Buckeyes didn’t score their first bucket until 5 minutes into the game.  With only 4 points on the board about 10 minutes into the game, the Buckeyes’ only bounce came from McClinton’s ejection.  The Buckeyes scored 5 quick points (2 free throws from Crater, a 3pter from Diebler), though the Canes promptly bounced back.   Miami built a 12 point lead in 4 minutes time, a lead that, in principle, spoke to the deficit the Buckeyes carried with them into half.   Problems abounded for Ohio State.  Lauderdale picked up a quick foul just over a minute in, eventually picking up his second with ~7 minutes remaining.  In spite of the ejection of McClinton — Miami’s best player and an all-conference selection, the Hurricanes offense actually improved, culminating in their biggest lead of the game.  The offense also couldn’t find any rhythm.  Post entry passes seemed to be a foreign concept for the Buckeyes as viewers saw the uglier elements of Matta’s perimeter-oriented philosophy.  Even when BJ Mullens had set up position in the post, he wasn’t even getting a glance from the ballcarrier on the perimeter.  Mullens also wasn’t helping himself either by being out of position sometimes, giving up when he was getting overlooked and playing winded.  My personal favorite, of course, is the 5 second internal shot clock that the Buckeyes have fallen in love with.  Granted, sports is an avenue of human endeavors where the ends most certainly justify the means, but the contested 3pt shot less than 5 seconds into an offensive set is always something that I protest in vain from the comfort of my apartment.  While Steve Lavin noted in the final seconds of the half that the Buckeyes had yet to find a consistent source of offense from anyone on the court, he missed the fundamental point that poor shot selection — especially from the perimeter — will result in an anemic offense regardless.  Probability theory tells us that.

The second half was in total contrast to the pseudo-basketball Buckeye fans endured in the first half.  Immediately, the Buckeyes turned to a press to jump start the offense, with great success.  Miami started to turn the ball over at an alarming clip, eventually totaling 10 turnovers — largely immediately related to the press — in the second half.  Within 3 minutes, the Buckeyes had cut the deficit to 10.  Under a minute later, the Buckeyes cut the deficit to 5.  That deficit largely held until about 7 minutes left, when a Jeremie Simmons 3pter gave the Buckeyes their first lead of the game (57-54).  They never looked back from there, eventually pushing the lead to a two-score cushion that is reflected in the final 73-68 line.

While the press set up the Buckeyes for the second half, the hot hands of Evan Turner and Jon Diebler led the way.  While such a dichotomy proposed upcoming should not be read too literally, Diebler was the source of offense for the first 10 minutes of the second half with Evan Turner largely closing out the second half.  Just as Miami rebounded from the slow start to push the lead back to a 3 score cushion, Jon Diebler connected on back-to-back 3pters to cut the Miami lead to 4 points.  Diebler — who, if you did not know this (and stay with me here), is the leading scorer in Ohio HS basketball history.  OMGNOWAIRLY? rly.  Look it up. — finished with 20pts (6/12 from 3pt, 0/3 from not 3pt) to lead all scorers.  Evan Turner played a large role in closing out the Hurricanes.  Down 54-49 at the 9 minute mark, Turner scored 5 unanswered to tie the game.  After what I think was a Lauderdale block, I believe he was the one that set up Jeremie Simmons for the go-ahead 3pter.  Another Miami turnover set up Turner for a breakway 360 dunk with 5 minutes remaining.  Turner, who finished with 19pts (6/14), 6 rebounds and 4 assists, closed out the game with some clutch free throws to keep the 2 score cushion, much to the delight of mom, who was in the stands cheering.

Other things of note

• Steve Lavin appeared to be off in his own little universe for most of this game.  Sadly, I think the motor oil he uses to slick back his hair has finally settled on his brain.  Osmosis will do that to you.  When he wasn’t talking about Jedis, and Wonder Bread, making unheard-of NBA allusions and dropping not-so-subtle reminders that he’s a Gene Keady legacy who wants his damn job back at UCLA, he was obsessing about the McClinton ejection.  A few things must be clarified with this:
  • McClinton almost turning Noopy Crater to Droopy Crater was, by the letter of the law, an ejectable offense.  It doesn’t make a damn difference whether the offending gesture was “open handed” or not.
  • No, Steve, it doesn’t really matter that Crater took the first swipe since, as you’ll see upon watching, Crater made a (belated, of course) swipe for the ball.  Crater was playing the ball; McClinton was just being an idiot.
  • No, Steve, as you can see even upon the first review — something that Lavin didn’t pick up even after the 5th or 6th time they showed the play in question, that Thad Matta did not politick that call since he was objecting to McClinton having potentially traveled on the play.  Hell, I even picked up on this real time.  Even after Allen Hopkins corrected Lavin on this, he still didn’t get it.
  • No, Steve, it’s unlikely that McClinton’s ejection mattered that much to the Hurricanes this game.  Their offense actually improved in the first half upon his departure.  Where Miami lost this game was in the second half.  This was a result of turnovers and being unable to deal with the Buckeye press.  Lance Hurdle had picked up most of the slack for the Canes on offense anyways.
• Dallas Lauderdale finished 3-3 from the field with 2 blocks and 3 rebounds.  Foul trouble notwithstanding, it seemed like he played even bigger than that.  I’ve been infatuated with Lauderdale when he came to campus, especially hearing how he had worked so hard in practice to toughen up Kosta Koufos, an effort sadly proven futile.  It’s good to see him be a presence as a sophomore.
• I still hate to see the quick shots from an offensive set, especially the contested 3s.  That said, Turner and Diebler were on fire in the second half and, thus, are exonerated from culpability for taking those types of shots.  David Lighty (11pts [5/12]), however, should never… eeeever… take those type of shots.  He finished 0/6 from 3 for the game.  Stick to taking charges, David.  By the way, the charges were awesome.
• BJ Mullens finished with 5pts and 9 rebounds.  Granted, NBA scouts are idiots.  These are the same people that took Darius Miles when, in high school, I could even told you not to take him, but Mullens has a long way to go.  One of the biggest knocks on him coming out of high school was his inability to take over like he’s capable of doing.  It’s showing in college.